A police officer escorted George Zimmerman home after Monday’s confrontation in Lake Mary, Fla.

By Mike Schneider
Associated Press
September 12, 2013

LAKE MARY, Fla. — The investigation of a domestic dispute between George Zimmerman and his estranged wife is on hold because there is no compelling evidence and neither one of the couple wants to press charges, a police spokesman said Wednesday.

That could change if new evidence surfaces or technicians are able to extract video that recorded the dispute from Shellie Zimmerman’s smashed iPad, said Officer Zach Hudson.

Analysts are having difficulty extracting the video because the iPad is in bad shape.

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“We have concluded the investigation with what we have to work with,” Hudson said.

The dispute took place Monday, just days after Shellie Zimmerman filed divorce papers. In the papers, Zimmerman, 26, said she had separated from her husband a month after he was acquitted in the 2012 fatal shooting death of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin.

A police report on the dispute released Wednesday shed some light on how it started.

Shellie Zimmerman, accompanied by her father and a friend, was removing some belongings from the couple’s house when George Zimmerman, who still lives there, arrived and began taking photos of her, the report said. The house is owned by Shellie Zimmerman’s parents.

George Zimmerman recorded the items she removed from the house and also the belongings she had placed in her father’s truck, the report said.

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Zimmerman said his wife was ‘‘taking property that was not agreed upon and he began taking pictures and recording the items,’’ the report said.

Shellie Zimmerman then took her iPad and started recording her husband taking photos of her, authorities said. George Zimmerman went inside and locked the front door.

What happened next is in dispute.

Shellie Zimmerman told investigators she heard her father screaming in the garage. Her father, David Dean, told her Zimmerman hit him in the face, the report said. She said her husband then smashed her iPad.

During a 911 call, she also told police that George Zimmerman was threatening her and her father with a gun. Later, however, she said she had not seen any gun. Police said they found no gun, but that Shellie Zimmerman’s father ‘‘did have a swollen red mark on the bridge of his nose.’’

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George Zimmerman told investigators that his wife had told him she was done packing so he locked the front door and went to the garage to close it when Shellie Zimmerman’s father confronted him.

Dean charged his son-in-law, according to George Zimmerman. And Shellie Zimmerman at some point hit her husband with her iPad, George Zimmerman told investigators.

Police officers asked George Zimmerman to remove his shirt so they could see if there were marks on his back. “There were no signs of trauma,” the report said.

Lake Mary is about seven miles southwest of Sanford, where George Zimmerman, 29, fatally shot Martin in February 2012. Zimmerman, who identifies himself as Hispanic, was acquitted in July of all charges.

Zimmerman said he acted in self-defense when he shot the 17-year-old Martin. He wasn’t charged until 44 days after the shooting, leading to protests nationwide from people who believed he should have been immediately arrested.

The case sparked accusations that Zimmerman had racially profiled Martin and demonstrations broke out again after his acquittal.